We All Make Mistakes
by Sable Supernova
Summary: Mistakes come in many shapes and sizes, but they're part of what makes us human. Whether we're drinking too much, not thinking about the consequences or forgetting our priorities, they help make us better people. Collection of one-shots and drabbles.
1. Winky: Basket and Butterbeer

Written for the May Event at Hogwarts for the prompt: Basket

Words: 90

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 **Basket and Butterbeer**

Winky stared at the laundry basket and felt nothing. Back at home, Winky used to see laundry as a challenge, as something to accomplish, as a chance to prove herself. Now, at Hogwarts, it was just a basket.

Because she was a free elf, because she had been cast away, she did not feel proud.

She needed something to take that regret away, something to help her forget.

She looked around the dorm. Half hidden under a pile of Quidditch supplies lay a bottle of Butterbeer. Well, that looked fun.


	2. Sirius: Full Moon

Written for the Weird Prompt Strikes Back, for the prompt: wordcount - 87.

Words: unsurprisingly, 87.

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 **Full Moon**

Sirius walked back to his dormitory satiated. He hadn't expected such a good shag. Past curfew as it was, he was expecting the rest of the group to be sat up chatting.

He walked into an almost empty room and immediately frowned.

"Where is everyone?" Sirius asked Danny, the guy who shared a dorm with the Marauders.

"Where the usually are," Danny returned.

Sirius headed over to the window and looked up at the sky to see a large, perfectly circular orb staring down at him.

"Shit."


	3. James S P: Dare

**_Written for:  
Chocolate Frog Cards Challenge:_** _Gunhilda of Gorsemoor - write about someone assisting another with an illness or injury.  
_ _ **Gringotts Prompt Bank:**_ _spell: Episkey, first line: "Spare some change, please?", wordset: Manipulate, Frail, Blush, Bribe, weather prompt: Downpour, colour: Ivory  
_ _ **Writing Bingo:**_ _Siblings: Albus, James and Teddy  
_ _ **September Event:**_ _Harry Potter  
_ _ **Words:**_ _385_

* * *

 **Dare**

"Spare some change, please?" came the voice of a man on the pavement as they hurried past. James wouldn't have even heard him if not for the deadly silence that had settled over the family, and the way his father wouldn't even look at him. The downpour soaked him to the bone, and the little boy thought he deserved it.

They were heading home, leaving Albus in St Mungo's overnight, and they didn't know what would greet them in the morning.

James hadn't meant for anyone to get hurt. He hadn't even seen the danger. It was just a harmless bit of fun. They'd always played at the old stone works, and with a gentle bribe, Albus had agreed to run around its rim, looking down into the chasm what was left of the quarry, to see if he could beat James's time. When he'd told his dad the story, Harry had labelled it manipulation. James wasn't sure he knew what that word meant, but he knew it was bad.

* * *

 _A blush rose up in Albus's cheeks as the adrenaline spurred him onwards, and James laughed. Then all of a sudden, Teddy was behind James, shouting._

 _"James, what the hell are you playing at? Albus, get back!" Teddy ordered. James's smile vanished. But the shout had startled Albus. He looked back as he carried on running. His foot slipped._

 _There was a scream and a thud._

 _James was rooted to the spot as Teddy ran forward, scrambling over the edge to Albus's side. James could hardly move._

 _He inched forward to see the ivory skin of his brother's face crowned in a rusty red, his eyes closed. He heard Teddy shout, "Episkey," over and over again, as if he could say it enough times and fix everything._

 _"What are you standing there for? Get dad!" Teddy shouted up, and James jumped to action. He could help. He could do something._

* * *

Teddy's rudimentary spells might not have healed the internal damage, but the Healers said they might have saved his life, curtailing just enough of the bleeding. They said it was hit and miss. It would be a few days before he woke up, and with such extensive injuries, he might not quite be himself.

James knew it was his fault. He would never forgive himself.


	4. Dean: The Night Isn't Over

**The Night Isn't Over**

All of his beer had gone, and nothing good ever did happen after two in the morning anyway, so Dean Thomas was on his way home. Alicia sure did know how to throw a good party - Dean was quite sure he'd forgotten half of it already, which he was certain was a good sign, even if he was going home alone. Stumbling through the quite streets of Little Hangleton towards his new cottage, he rounded a corner and flinched at the harsh glow of the streetlight.

Light laughter rang through the silent night like a wind chime caught in a gentle simmer breeze. Dean looked up, seeing two identical women stood looking at him before his eyes could focus. A long, black coat clinched in at the waist; boots that narrowed to a deadly stiletto point at the heel; a jaunty, daring, confident stance, hip jutting out as her chin tilted upwards. Auburn hair hung long around her face, hugging the curve of her chest. Sea-green eyes held his gaze under the streetlight, beneath a raised eyebrow. Her lips shone blood red.

"I'm not much of a fan of the light myself," she said by way of a greeting, her lips tugging at the corners as if she was trying not to laugh at some private joke. Dean stared, dumbfounded.

"Who are you?" he asked, gulping down a shaky breath.

"Wow, aren't you the charmer? Bet you've got the girls lining up at your door with lines like that. Is that why you're going home alone?" she asked, never missing a beat as she stepped towards him. Dean couldn't keep up, especially not in his current state.

"That's nothing to do with you," he told her, defensive and unsure, feeling vulnerable but unable to work out why.

"Ah, but it could be," she replied, holding his stare with a wicked smile.

Dean's vision shifted, like he'd just taken off his rose-tinted glasses. Her beauty, which had appeared heaven sent, now seemed hell bent. Her seductive glances were now the calculating, hungry eyes of a hunter.

"And the penny drops," she noted. "Now, you have two choices. You could try to run, but we both know you won't get far, and anyway, that doesn't sound like a lot of fun. Or there's that other thought crystallising, the one that'll let you pretend to be in control for a few moments. The hope that there's some humanity in me that'll convince me to give a little as I take what I want. The hope that this won't quite turn out to be the worst night of your pathetic, short life. And we both already know what you're going to do."

Dean stared at her for a moment and swallowed. "My house is just over there. Would you like to come in?"

* * *

 **A/N:** Written for: Ultimate Chocolate Frog Card Challenge - Blodwyn Bludd - Write about someone being seduced by a vampire.  
200 Characters in 200 Days Challenge - Dean Thomas  
Words: 470


	5. James S P: What He Wants

**Written for:  
February Event at Hogwarts:** (dialogue) "Just because you're beautiful doesn't mean you can treat people like they don't matter." and (word) heartthrob. **  
If You Dare Challenge:** 843\. Take It For Granted  
 **Valentine-Making Station:** Rhinestone Decorations – Write about a relationship that's not what it appears to be. **  
Chocolate Frog Cards Challenge:** Ptolemy – Incorporate a real Chocolate Frog Card into your story. **  
Gringotts Prompt Bank:** (said words) corrected, argued, snapped, shouted, (emotions and feelings) provoked, infuriated, **  
Words:** 976

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 **What He Wants**

James Sirius Potter ruffled up the back of his hair as he walked through Hogwarts to the Gryffindor Tower, smiling to himself at the third year girls he caught staring at him and giggling. He wondered if they were the girls his sister had told him about, who'd cornered her in the bathroom to ask if he really spent the summer with his Uncle Charlie working with dragons, or if that was just a rumour.

"All these girls seem to think you're some kind of heartthrob," she'd complained, looking completely incredulous at the thought. "If only they knew you still can't even make your own bed."

As the eldest son of the war hero, The Boy Who Lived, James was used to attention. He'd taken it for granted since his first year that people were going to stare, and ask questions. It hadn't taken him long to work out how to use it to his advantage.

Upon entering the Common Room, James spotted his friends sprawled out over the best seats in the house, the comfortable sofas and chairs in front of the fire. What really caught his eye, though, was a couple of girls from the year below sat at a table by the door, trading Chocolate Frog Cards. More specifically, his eyes were drawn to one card in particular that he'd been looking out for since the start of the year three months ago, to complete his Famous Witches and Wizards collection.

He threw his best smile on as he casually sauntered over, eyes trained on the girl in possession of the card as he desperately tried to remember her name.

"Hey," he greeted, shocking the girls somewhat into looking up. "Nichols, right?"

"Nicholson," the girl corrected with a shy smile and a faint blush.

"Of course! Sarah Nicholson," James returned. "I was just wondering, is that Crispin Cronk?" He pointed at the card in question, knowing full well who it was, but playing the game all the same.

"Yeah," Sarah replied, turning the card around to show him.

"Merlin, I've been looking for that card since September! I've got every other card in the Famous Wizards and Witches Collection but that one! He's really rare. How did you get it?" James asked. As he spoke, he casually reached out for the spare chair at the next table, spun it around and sat himself down with the girls.

"I got him at Christmas. I bought four sets with my Christmas money," she told him, smiling.

"You wouldn't be willing to trade, would you?" James asked, hope gleaming in his hazel eyes.

The girl exchanged a nervous glance with her friend before smiling at James and holding out the card.

"Have it. It's yours," she told him. "I think you care more about these things than I do."

She smiled kindly as she held it out.

"Are you serious?" James asked, feigning shock at her generosity. Sarah nodded. "You're the best person in the world. Seriously, I won't forget you!" he praised as he took the card and began to leave.

By the time he reached the couches, he was grinning. His best mates, the four other Gryffindor boys in fifth year and two of the girls, were sat watching him approach.

"I'm pretty certain by this point I could get anything I wanted with a little bit of flirting," James commented, arrogant in his pride at his own skill.

One of the girls, Kat, snorted and rolled her eyes derisively as the boys laughed at James' antics.

"What's your problem this time, Kat?" James asked her in a sigh, tired of her playing the same track on repeat.

Apparently, today she was feeling provocative, because she sat up in her seat with determination in her eyes as she rounded on him.

"You can't go through life walking all over people to get what you want," she argued.

"Kat, it's a Chocolate Frog Card, it hardly bloody matters!" James retorted.

"It does matter when you're using the fact she's got a crush on you for your own benefit, taking from her without any intention of giving back. It's one of the most selfish, arrogant things I've ever seen," Kat snapped, colour rushing to her cheeks as her anger caused her blood to boil.

"You're taking it far too seriously," James told her.

"Merlin's beard, you're a prick! Just because you're beautiful doesn't mean you can treat people like they matter!" she shouted, rising out of her seat to stand in her frustration.

James paused for a moment, drawing his eyebrows together. "Did you just call me beautiful?" he asked.

Kat let out a screech of frustration before turning on her heel, storming off towards the girl's dormitory, leaving silence in her wake.

"I don't think she's your friend any more, mate," James heard a voice to his right comment, but he ignored it.

His own pride wouldn't let him back down, not in public, but his conscience felt guilty as he considered her words. They'd hit him like a bolt of lightning to the chest. Kat thought he wasn't listening, that he didn't respect her opinion. She didn't know that he respected her opinion the most, that he listened to what she had to say. He just wasn't sure how to be any other way. As she stormed off, he realised he was losing her as a friend because of it, and therefore losing the possibility of that friendship ever being anything more.

He had to change. He had no choice, not if he ever wanted to act on what his heart was trying to tell him. It was now or never.

He stood slowly and walked back over to Sarah.

"Hey," he said. "Look, I don't feel comfortable just taking this from you without giving anything back. Are there any cards you're looking for?"


End file.
